Frustration
by Ronnie Jane
Summary: This is set in The Flash Invasion episode.
1. Oliver and Barry talk

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anything.

 **A/N:** Some quotes belong to _The Flash_ , _Arrow_ and The DC Universe.

Barry was beyond frustrated as he stormed into the time vault and sunk down to the floor. He put his knees up to his chest with his head in his hands and started to cry. Ever since he had changed things, everything had been one mess after another. He felt so broken and no one understood or was too angry to care.

Unbeknownst to him Oliver had followed him and had managed to slip in behind him and was now sitting opposite of him. He sat there for a minute not knowing what to say- all he could see was that his friend was falling to pieces right in front of him and he knew that he needed to do something about it.

"Barry! Barry! Oliver said trying to get his attention.

Barry slowly looked up at him and his eyes were red from crying and looked haunted. Oliver also noticed something else- Barry had dark circles under his eyes.

"Oliver, how did you get in here?"

"I followed you and slipped in before the door closed."

"Why bother following me? Aren't you just as mad as everyone else?"

"No."

Barry looked at Oliver shocked.

"Why not? I deserve it." After saying this, Barry put his head back in his hands.

Oliver had heard enough.

"Barry look at me," he said sharply.

Barry did.

"You need to stop beating yourself up over this!"

Barry looked shocked at that and immediately lashed out.

 **"** I'm sorry, but how can you say that? I'm responsible for all this."

Oliver didn't even flinch, but continued.

"Maybe, maybe not. Barry, you made a choice. You wanted to see your parents alive again. Do you honestly know anyone that, if they were in your shoes, wouldn't do the exact same thing? **I** would do the exact same thing! After the _Gambit_ went down, it was me, my father and a crew member on a life raft, lost at sea. Enough food and water for one person, maybe. My father took a gun, shot the crew member, told me to survive, and then turned the gun on himself and shot himself in the head. He sacrificed himself so I could live. Nothing I could do, no choice. Slade Wilson drove a sword right through my mother's heart in front of my sister and I. I was there, I was helpless on the ground. I was powerless to stop it. No choice. You don't think that I'd give anything to go back to make things different?"

Barry was shocked.

"You never told me that."

 **"** Barry, the world isn't different because you changed the timeline. Change happens. Tragedy happens. People make choices, and those choices affect everyone else. You're not a god, Barry and furthermore **no one** deserves what has happened to you."

From the look on Barry's face, Oliver knew that he had gotten through to him. They proceeded to sit in silence for the next few minutes, before Oliver decided to bring up something else that was bothering him.

"Barry, when was the last time you slept?"

"I don't know. When I try to sleep, I just wake up with nightmares."

"What are they about?"

Barry ran a hand through his hair.

"The price I had to pay to reset the timeline."

Oliver waited patiently for Barry to continue and he finally did.

"To reset the timeline, I – I had to beg Thawne to kill my Mother. I had to watch him kill her and then the timeline was reset."

Oliver sat their gob smacked at what he was hearing. Finally, he pulled himself together.

"Does anyone else know?"

"No. It's not like they would care. There too angry and they have a right to be. Besides, even though they may have done the same thing like you said- I'm the one that made the mistake."

Oliver was starting to get angry on Barry's behalf. Just because he made a mistake didn't mean they all had to be angry and treat him like he didn't belong. He sat there in silence for a minute trying to figure out what to say. While sitting there he looked at Barry, really looked at him. He saw that Barry was tired, broken, angry and frustrated; but what he saw most of all was that Barry needed a friend.

"Barry, it's going to be okay."

Barry looked at Oliver.

"How do you know that?" he asked in a defeated tone.

"Because you are one of the strongest and most hopeful people that I have ever known."

Barry smiled at that.

Oliver than got up and held his hand out to Barry, who proceeded to take it. Once he did Oliver pulled him up into a hug. Not used to Oliver doing this, Barry was shocked for a minute, but returned the hug. They were then interrupted by Cisco saying the others needed there help.

"Ready to go kick some alien butt?"

"Yeah."

Barry then lead the way out of the time vault and Oliver followed him all the while thinking that when all this was over he was going to talk to the team about what Barry had told him.


	2. Oliver confronts the team

A few days later, Barry wanted to turn himself over to the Dominators. Oliver stood there with everyone else listening to Barry as he said goodbye. He couldn't let it happen and it appeared that no one else was going to stop him and this made him angry. Why were they going to let him do this?

"Barry, I'm not letting you leave."

"No offense, Oliver but you and what army?"

Oliver proceeded to walk over to Barry and grab his arm. Barry tried to get loose, but found he couldn't so he just stood there. Oliver looked him dead in the eyes, as if trying to stare him down. Finally, he took a calming breath.

"I don't care what I have to do, he growled. You are not going to do this. I care too much to let you go."

He continued holding Barry's arm, as if he was scared Barry would try to make a run for it. All the while, turning to look at the rest of team.

"Everyone, excluding Supergirl who has tried to support Barry, listen up," he said with a tight controlled voice.

"Barry may have made some mistakes, but get this we all have. We have all lost someone and I can bet that each and every one of you has wanted to bring that person back. I know that if I could- I would have done the same thing as Barry."

They all stood there in shock, thinking about the words Oliver spoke.

Oliver turned back to Barry and Barry knowing what he was going to ask, nodded. After that, Oliver continued.

"Do any of you know what Barry had just seen before he went back in time?"

No one answered, as it appeared to be a rhetorical question anyway.

No- well let me enlighten you. Barry had just watched his father being murdered by a psychopath, whose only goal was to make Barry think he was exactly like him. Given that, I think you can understand why he did what he did. Now, let's see do any of you know the price he had to pay to restore the timeline?"

Oliver waited, but again no one answered him.

"Barry had to get The Reverse Flash to murder his Mother. He had to beg him to kill her. Do any of you know just how badly he feels over this whole mess? You probably do, but you don't care or if you do you haven't shown it. If you had, you would have been able to see that something is going on with Barry."

They all stood there speechless, as no one had known that Barry had had to go through any of that. Finally, they all started nodded agreeing with Oliver and decided to forgive Barry. Barry, being the good person, he was forgave them. It was after this, that the Dominators decided to start attacking again and they all had to leave to defeat them.


	3. After the Dominators are defeated

It was after the new president's speech and everyone had left that Oliver and Barry went to the bar. They had just gotten finished talking about how they should get together more, when Oliver noticed that Barry was getting tired and trying to hide it. _Why was Barry trying to hide the fact that he was exhausted from him?_ To be fair they were all exhausted and there was no point in trying to hide it.

"Barry, maybe we should turn in for the night."

Barry nodded, all the while trying to hide a yawn.

They paid the tab and walked back outside. They proceeded to walk over to Oliver's bike, when Barry stumbled and would have fallen if Oliver hadn't caught and steadied him. He let go as soon as he was sure that Barry would be alright standing on his own.

"You okay?"

"I'm alright."

Despite, Barry trying to be convincing, he didn't fool Oliver for a second. Oliver looked closer at Barry and he noticed that Barry looked worse than he did the other day in the time vault. Oliver took a slow steadying breath and made a snap decision. His decision was that he wasn't going to let Barry run anywhere in this condition. He was too exhausted.

"Barry, let me give you a lift. Where should I drop you?"

"STAR Labs. It's where I've been staying."

"That's no place for you to get a good night's sleep. Why don't you come and stay with me at the farm house?"

"I couldn't impose. I'll be fine."

Oliver glared and Barry noticed it immediately. The glare spoke volumes. It said you're coming with me, because I'm not going to let you do anything stupid and reckless.

"You're not going to impose on anyone. I invited you. Besides it's only going to be you and me. Everyone else has already went back to Star City or are hanging out with our other friends."

After this, Barry had run out of excuses and finally gave in with a nod. With that he followed Oliver over to the bike and got on behind him. Oliver handed him the spare helmet he always kept. Once they had both gotten ready, Oliver started the bike and took off toward the farm house. On the way there, Oliver thought about whether or not to confront Barry. He eventually decided to confront Barry about why he was staying at STAR Labs and just how long it had been since he had slept.

A few minutes later, they had made it to the farm house and clamored off the bike. After putting the bike and helmet's away, they went inside and grabbed some water. Then they headed into the living room and sat down on the couch. Oliver looked at Barry and Barry looked back. There was a conversation that needed to be had and they both knew it. All that was left was who was going to start the conversation. Finally, after ten minutes Oliver broke the silence.

"So, what else has happened that you haven't mentioned and how long has it been since you really slept?"


	4. Nightmare

Barry sat there thinking about how to answer Oliver's questions. He knew Oliver wasn't going to force him to talk. But he also knew that he was safe with Oliver and could talk about anything. So, he told him everything that had happened with Cisco, Caitlin, Iris, Wally, Joe, Julian and Harry. He told him how he had recently lost his job to protect Caitlin. He told him all the consequences of when he had changed the time line. He told him about Savitar and how he had recently been injured. He finally stopped talking and Oliver looked at him and gave him an understanding nod.

"Barry, it's going to be okay. If anyone can get through all of this - it's you. Besides you're not alone."

Barry gave a nod of thanks and then Oliver continued on.

"When was the last time you actually got a good night's sleep?"

"I don't know."

"Barry- "

"Oliver- "

Oliver glared and with a sigh, Barry gave in.

"The truth is I haven't really gotten any sleep within the last two weeks."

From the look on Oliver's face, Barry knew that Oliver was counting backward in his head from ten trying to control his tamper and get his thoughts together. Finally, Oliver took a deep breath and looked over at Barry, who was now sitting at the end of the couch with his head laying on his shoulder. As he looked closer he noticed that Barry's eyes were closed and his breathing had evened out. Barry was sound asleep.

Smiling, Oliver walked over to the linen closet and grabbed some pillows and blankets. Then he walked over to the spare couch and laid everything down. He took some pillows and laid them down at the end of the couch Barry was sitting on. After putting down the pillows, he grabbed Barry's shoulders and laid him down. Then he picked up Barry's legs, put them on the couch and took off Barry's shoes. Oliver then returned to the other couch, grabbed a blanket and covered Barry up. Finally, he went back over the other couch and settled down for the night. He could talk to Barry tomorrow, what mattered now was that Barry was getting some rest. With that, he fell asleep.

Later, as the hour struck twelve Oliver woke up to the sound of someone screaming – that someone was Barry.


	5. Question for my reader’s

I've got a bit of writer's block. For this story, I'm thinking about having Oliver pull Barry into a hug. However, I'm wondering if this is something they would actually do based on there friendship on the show? What do y'all think? Please comment with your thoughts.


	6. Oliver demands an answer

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed on this fanfiction! I can't tell you how much your support means to me!

Hearing Barry scream like that sent chills down Oliver's body. In fact, it shook him to his very core. He immediately got up and rushed over to Barry, grabbed his shoulder and shook him awake. After a few tries, Barry woke up and noticed that Oliver was standing over him. He also felt Oliver's hand on his shoulder.

"Barry- "

"I'm fine," answered Barry while shrugging Oliver's hand off and sitting up. Once he sat up, he moved to one end of the couch and buried his face in his hands. Oliver noticed this as a sign of true frustration. He also noticed that Barry shrugged him off and this action spoke volumes to what state of mind Barry was in. Oliver had had enough and finally snapped.

"The hell you are."

Barry looked up at hearing what Oliver said and the tone he had used.

"Yes-."

"No, you're not," stated Oliver as he went and sat down on the other end of the couch before continuing, "Barry, you're not okay and it's alright to admit that. Take it from someone who has learned this the hard way it's okay to lean on other people. You don't have to be strong all the time."

That was all Barry needed to hear, before he broke down.

"You 're right – about all of it. I- "

Oliver moved to the end of the couch where Barry was, put a hand on his shoulder and got Barry to look at him.

"It's okay. What did you see?"

Barry took a deep breath, before he tried to speak and was finally able to speak." I saw Zoom kill my Dad and then I saw my Mom being murdered."

"Barry, look at me, said Oliver as Barry had turned away." It's **not** your fault."

"I know. I just miss them."

"I know you do. I miss my parents to. There's something about losing a parent that takes part of you away and replaces it with something else. The key is to embrace the change and keep moving forward."

Barry nodded and then yawned.

"Why don't we try getting some more sleep?"

"No- "

"Don't say your fine again. You look like death warmed over. You need to get some more sleep. I'll wake you if you have another nightmare."

"Alright," replied Barry who knew that Oliver was right.

After this, they both went back to their own couches and fell asleep, knowing that they would always have each other's backs.

A/N: So, what did ya'll think? What's going to happen next?


	7. Finishing a Conversation

Disclaimer: I do not own anything.

The following morning, they had both gotten up and decided to go get coffee at Jitters. Once there, they ordered their regular coffee orders, got them and then proceeded to sit down.

"You headed back to Star City today?"

"Yes. I've got get back to protect the city."

They sat in silence for a few minutes, before Oliver looked Barry in the eyes and said, "I don't care what time of day it is or what I'm doing, _you_ can always talk to me."

"Thank you."

"There's another thing and you're not going to like it."

"Does it involve you shooting me in the back?"

They both smirked at the memory.

"No. It involves me telling you that if you don't learn to get more rest and stop blaming yourself, then I will personally come back here and see to it that you do."

"You're not serious, are you?"

"I am."

They sat in silence for a minute and drank some more of there coffee, before Barry spoke again, "I'll do better."

Oliver nodded.

After they had both finished their coffees and Barry walked with Oliver back to his bike. When they got there, Oliver turned to Barry and pulled him into a hug. Barry who wasn't used to Oliver doing this, tensed, but then relaxed into the embrace. A few seconds later, Oliver let go, got on his bike and started the long drive back to Star City. Barry watched him go and was thankful that he had such an amazing friend who would always be there for him, no matter what.

A/N: I apologize that it has taken so long to update. My school work and family life has been crazy. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the story! Please review! Also, please forgive any grammar mistakes.


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